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Review: Wytch Hazel - IV: Sacrament
Wytch Hazel
www.facebook.com/wytchhazel
IV: Sacrament

Label: Bad Omen Records
Year released: 2023
Duration: 42:57
Tracks: 10
Genre: Heavy Metal

Rating:
3.25/5


Review online: September 4, 2023
Reviewed by: MetalMike
Readers' Rating
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Rated 3.25/5 (65%) (4 Votes)
Review

This U.K. band seems to get a fair amount of exposure, especially if you prowl Bandcamp like I do, despite their music hovering around the heavy metal/hard rock border. IV: Sacrament is their fourth album of heavy yet smooth riffs and Christian-themed lyrics, like early Trouble if they played traditional instead of doom metal. Musically, they make me think of '70s proto-metal with a mystical/occult vibe, think Uriah Heep and Blue Oyster cult, mixed with the NWOBHM except with a modern, clean production. I cut my teeth on hard rock from the '70s, so it will always have a place in my rotation and there's nothing I would say is even remotely bad on IV: Sacrament, but there really isn't anything all that engaging either. Everything from the vocals to the solos has a laid-back vibe, even the songs about holy war ("A Thousand Years") and the denizens of hell ("Deliver Us"), and there aren't any songs that do laid-back in a particularly amazing fashion. Even if there were just a couple of stompers, it would improve the album immensely, in my opinion, as the entire album just drifts by rather unassumingly. I am reviewing this because, as I said at the outset, Wytch Hazel gets some hype in metal circles, so if you're into hard rock that strays into metal, IV: Sacrament might that bill for you. This review might sound as though I dislike IV: Sacrament, and that isn't the case, I just don't find anything all that exciting about it.

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